


The Working of Magic

by tablelamp



Category: The Tempest - Shakespeare
Genre: Being bound into service by magic, Character Study, Complicated Relationships, Gen, Magic and its uses, Master & Servant, Revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 12:42:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21136883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tablelamp/pseuds/tablelamp
Summary: Magic could be cold or warm, a brush of fingertips or a slap.





	The Working of Magic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reine_des_corbeaux](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reine_des_corbeaux/gifts).

Every individual's magic had a different sensation to it. To some spirits, it was a taste on one's tongue; to others, it was a pleasant (or offensive) scent. Ariel had always felt it as touch. Magic could be cold or warm, a brush of fingertips or a slap. Sycorax's magic felt like splinters of wood constantly beneath the skin, although Ariel couldn't quite remember whether or not her magic had felt that way before the cloven pine.

Prospero's magic wasn't so painful, but it was difficult to experience in its own way. It felt like ants crawling along Ariel's skin, always there, never ceasing. It didn't hurt, not in the same way that magic like ant bites would have, but it was impossible to ignore or forget, even when Ariel was far from the island and its inhabitants. Ariel longed for freedom, to feel only the wind or the elements without the constant crawling sensation of Prospero's magic calling. Although Prospero had freed Ariel from Sycorax, the bond had only been transferred. Ariel was still in service to a magician, ever in service. It was exhausting to be so.

But there were things that Ariel knew about magic that even Prospero didn't know. Magic could bind a spirit to a magician, true, but that bond had consequences. From anywhere on earth, Ariel could feel the touch of Prospero's magic and follow it to its source. That would remain possible even after they were no longer bound together.

What Prospero didn't know was that, once a spirit knew your magic, that spirit could find you anywhere. And that spirit could bind you to their service as quickly as a thought.

So Ariel waited. Prospero had broken his promise of freedom, but soon that would make no difference. On a day that was almost close enough to touch, Prospero would release his binding spell and let Ariel go.

Ariel would not be so kind.


End file.
